just as hard in the second term. >> governor romney? >> thank you jim, mr. president and thank you for tuning in this evening. this is an important election and i'm concerned about america. i'm concerned about the direction america has been taking over the last four years. i know this is bigger than an election about the two of us as individuals. it's bigger than our respective parties. it's an election about the course of america. what kind of america do you want to have for yourself and for your children. and there really are two very different paths that we began speaking about this evening and over the course of this month we'll have two more presidential debates and a vice presidential debate. but they lead in different directions and it's not just looking to our words that you have to take into evidence to where they go. you can look at the record. there's no question in my mind if the president were to be re-elected you'll continue to see a middle class squeeze with incomes going down and prices going up. i'll get incomes up again. you'll see chronic unemployment. we've had

, specifically with issue of abortion rights, union rights and including mr. romney's 47% remarks which are absolutely dominated the campaign for the last week or more. mr. romney's record as has mass governor was also not discussed except on mr. romney's own terms when he brought it up himself. there was honestly, a lot left on the cutting room floor by this format and by the moderator who moderated with more than a light touch. mr. romney by most estimates needed to come out with a strong night tonight giving how he was fairing into the polls heading into the night and he did have a strong night. >> under the president's policies, middle income americans are buried. they've been crushed. middle-income americans have seen their income come down by $4,300. it's the economy tax. it's been crushing. at the same time, gas prices doubled under the president. electric rates are up. food prices are up. health care costs have gone up by $2,500 a family. middle-income families are being crushed so the question is how to get them going again. >> president obama for his part, kept his focus at le

and that the president seemed unfocused and let mr. romney get away with a lot of factually challenged stuff that he should have been confronted on. what's your take on it? >> i think romney might have had a theatrical aggression. the case the president has been making to the american people, why are voters in ohio and florida concerned about mitt romney? he firmly and proudly doubled down on his plan. he dishonestly tried to run away from that tonight. in terms of wall street reform, romney said even though reckless behavior on wall street contributed to the recession, i want to roll that back. so we see the entire campaign as one story we're telling and for the american people listening tonight who has the better plan for the middle class, who they can trust to make sure that wall street doesn't wreck our economy again, the president did a good job of laying that out. >> david plouffe, this is al sharpton. i'm one that thinks mr. romney might have made a mistake tonight. i think he was theatrical, but he gave so many answers that will be proven to be untrue. is it not the strategy of obama campaig

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